MOTOROLA
M68040 USER’S MANUAL
4- 3
TAG
V
LW3
LW2
LW1
LW0
(a) Instruction Cache Line
TAG
V
LW3
D3
LW2
D2
LW1
D1
LW0
D0
TAG — 22-Bit Physical Address Tag
V — Line VALID Bit
LW — Long Word n (32-Bit) Data Entry
Dn — DIRTY Bit for Long Word n
(b) Data Cache Line
Figure 4-2. Cache Line Formats
The cache stores an entire line, providing validity on a line-by-line basis. Only burst mode
accesses that successfully read four long words can be cached. Memory devices unable
to support bursting can respond to a cache line read or write access by asserting the
transfer burst inhibit (TBI) signal, forcing the processor to complete the access as a
sequence of three long-word accesses. The cache recognizes burst accesses as if the
access were never inhibited, detecting no difference.
A cache line is always in one of three states: invalid, valid, or dirty. For invalid lines, the V-
bit is clear, causing the cache line to be ignored during lookups. Valid lines have their V-bit
set and D-bits cleared, indicating all four long words in the line contain valid data
consistent with memory. Dirty cache lines have the V-bit and one or more D-bits set,
indicating that the line has valid long-word entries that have not been written to memory
(long words whose D-bit is set). A cache line changes from valid to invalid if the execution
of the CINV or CPUSH instruction explicitly invalidates the cache line; if a snooped write
access hits the cache line and the line is not dirty; or if the SCx signals for a snooped read
access invalidates the line. Both caches should be explicitly cleared after a hardware reset
of the processor since reset does not invalidate the cache lines.
Figure 4-3 illustrates the general flow of a caching operation. The corresponding memory
unit translates the logical address of each access to a physical address allowing the IU to
access the data in the cache. To minimize latency of the requested data, the lower
untranslated bits of the logical address map directly to the physical address bits and are
used to access a set of cache lines in parallel with the translation. Physical address bits
9–4 are used to index into the cache and select one of the 64 sets of four cache lines. The
four tags from the selected cache set are compared with the translated physical address
bits 31–12 and bits 11 and 10 of the untranslated page offset. If any one of the four tags
matches and the tag status is either valid or dirty, then the cache has a hit. During read
accesses, a half-line (two long words) is accessed at a time, requiring two cache accesses
for reads that are greater than a half-line or two long words. Write accesses within a cache
line require a single cache access. If a misaligned access crosses two pages, then the
partial access to the first page always happens twice, even if the pages are serialized.
Consequently, if the accesses span page boundaries, misaligned accesses to peripherals
are not possible unless the peripheral can tolerate double reads or writes.
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Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
For More Information On This Product,
Go to: www.freescale.com
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